Infinite Stratos  A Christmas Charlotte
by Kaio Thor
Summary: Here it is, a Ichika x Charlotte Christmas fic.     Ichika collapses the evening before the big Christmas party at the academy, a party which will change his life.   Read to find out what the surprise is and what he must do to get it.   Please R&R


**A/N:** So, this was something I planned to do since I first saw this Anime at the Connichi this year. I hope you enjoy it.

Have fun reading and please review. ^^

Also: _**Merry**__**Christmas **__**and**__** a**__** happy **__**new**__** year **__**to **__**you**__** all!**_

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><p>It was a snowy winter night and the whole academy was already asleep, in preparation for the big party the next day. Well, except for the only male on the campus and a blond girl.<p>

Ichika was running laps and doing some basic kendo exercises. The blonde was watching him through her room's window with a worried expression on her face. He started that right after their fight against that unmanned IS over the ocean.

After a while he deployed his IS and took off, doing some basic flying maneuvers. Continuing on to more advanced flying patterns, sword exercises and evasion patterns, not to mention exercising his hand-to-hand combat. About an hour later, he touched down and fell over unconscious, his Byakushiki switching back to standby mode.

As she saw what happened, Charlotte almost jumped into her boots and threw her coat over her shoulders as she ran out. Taking a closer look at him after she turned him on his back with his head resting on her lap, she noticed that he was only sleeping. From the looks of it he wouldn't wake up anytime soon. She then picked him up and carried, no, more like dragged him to his room. Luckily the door wasn't locked, so it could be opened. She dragged him onto his bed and collapsed on the empty bed that had once been hers. Soon she drifted off into the dream world as well.

A few hours later Ichika woke up, feeling something soft and warm snuggling against his side. Opening his eyes, he found himself lying on the floor of his room, still wearing his training clothes. But what really surprised him more than anything, was a sleeping Charlotte in her coat hugging his arm. He somehow got up without her waking up and laid her down on his bed, covering her with the blanket. Getting an extra blanket from the drawer he pulled a chair up to the side of his bed and sat down, covering himself with the blanket.

As he drifted off to sleep, he could've sworn that Charlotte had opened her eyes flashing a sleepy smile at him and signaling him to move from the chair and into his bed. Not really thinking about what he was doing he slipped out of his boots and coat and under the blanket. Charlotte immediately snuggled against him and they both were asleep again soon.

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><p><em><strong>The next day…<strong>_

If ones head could explode from blushing, his would certainly do so. He couldn't believe that he had actually slept next to the most beautiful girl on the campus. Not only that, he even had one of his arms laying around her waist as he woke up.

Again he managed to get up without her noticing. How he did that two times in a row he didn't know. He looked at the clock and quickly got out of his room and decided to use the showers in the changing rooms.

Waking up, Charlotte found herself lying in the bed of the one and only male student on the campus, alone. He was nowhere in the room and judging from the silence, he was not in the bathroom either. Getting up, she grabbed her boots and coat, which she must have discarded sometime in her sleep. She went back to her room, all the while wondering why the hallway was so empty at this time in the morning. A look at the calendar in her room brought the answer.

"The Christmas party!" she exclaimed.

Hastily she took a shower and looked through the small wardrobe she had besides her uniforms. A minute later she had found what she was looking for. A long blue dress with white sleeves and a light fur around the neck, the only dress she bought once she got to Japan. Dressing up and leaving her room a few minutes later, she made her way to the cafeteria.

As she entered the cafeteria, she stopped in the door for a few seconds. In the middle of the room stood a big Christmas tree, decorated with candles and other things. Mistletoes were hanging over every door. EVERY door. Which brought her to look up to the doorframe she stood under. Right at that moment, the exact same door she came through opened and revealed none other than Ichika Orimura. Said person stopped right next to her.

"Here you are." Ichika said with a smile.

"Ichika?" Charlotte exclaimed surprised and maybe a little bit too loud.

That brought them to the attention of a certain teacher. Namely Chifuya Orimura.

"I suppose you both know what it means when to people meet under a mistletoe at Christmas eve?" she asked with a somewhat evil smile.

At that remark four pairs of eyes were suddenly glaring daggers at the boy and the blond girl. It didn't take Ichika very long to realize what was about to happen, so he grabbed Charlotte and made a run.

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><p><em><strong>After the sunset…<strong>_

"D-Did we fin…ally lose them?" Ichika asked, panting heavily.

"Either that or there IS' ran out of power." Charlotte answered.

"You can let me down now."

Part of why Ichika was panting so heavily was because he had been carrying Charlotte while running away from the four girls chasing him with their IS', all that on top of constantly dodging their attacks. After setting Charlotte back on her feet, Ichika leaned against a nearby tree, taking in deep and slow breaths of air.

"So…" Ichika began. "I guess we're not standing under any mistletoes anymore."

"You're an idiot." Charlotte retorted, her body shaking.

"Are you cold?" he asked concerned, as he saw her shaking.

The next thing he knew, were Charlotte's lips pressing against his. His hands somehow found their way up to her waist, pulling her closer. She responded with her arms slowly sliding around his neck, while she deepened the kiss. After a few moments they broke the kiss but not their embrace. Crimson eyes met purple ones and tension began to rise.

"Char…"Ichika began but was cut off quickly by the blonde.

"This was not because of the mistletoe." She said hastily.

"I...I…Iloveyou." the blonde sputtered hastily with a huge blush creeping up to her face.

At that, Ichika was speechless for more than a minute as his head was processing what he had just heard. First, splitting what he had heard into clear words, then into the separate letters, then back into words again. Then, it finally hit him like a hammer. Those words, their meaning, how he had longed to hear those words. He really wanted to answer her, tell her his feelings about her, how deeply he cared for her. But somehow this all seemed to good to be true, he wanted to it to be true.

"Are you sure?" Ichika finally asked, after minutes of silence between them.

"I should've known, that you would answer that way." The blonde answered, shaking her head. "I'll say it again if you want. "

Ichika just pulled her closer, her head now resting on his chest. He took in a really deep breath, almost until he had the feeling that his lungs would burst. Then he closed his eyes.

"I… love you too." The last part came out as a mere whisper.

Charlotte looked up at him with big purple eyes, not really believing what she had just heard. But she was sure of what she had heard. She had heard it, of that she was sure, but for Ichika to say something like that out loud.

"We should go back, it's getting quite cold out here." Ichika said as he picked Charlotte up again and carried her back to the academy.

Charlotte was beaming a smile as bright as the sun all the way back. Ichika was as happy as she was but still careful observing their surroundings, just in case that they were ambushed.

"Merry Christmas, Charlotte."

"Merry Christmas, Ichika."


End file.
